It may not have been fine dining at its best, but it was a best effort for five teams cooking up a storm at Wellington Terrace on July 17.
The teams participated in the second annual mayoral emergency management cook-off featuring teams made up of municipal officials from across Wellington County and hosted by the county emergency management department.
In the end Erin Mayor Lou Maieron’s team, which included two chefs, took top spot with the Centre Wellington team scoring a runner-up position.
Judges for the event were Dr. Nicola Mercer, medical officer of health for the Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph health unit, Peter Barnes, long term care administrator at Wellington Terrace, and Linda Dickson, county emergency management coordinator.
The teams were given a kit of non-perishable food from a 72-hour kit and were challenged to create a three course meal in 30 minutes. Their creations were judged on taste, presentation, originality and nutritional value.
The ingredients included apple juice, lemon juice, mayonnaise, hot sauce, brown sugar, garlic powder, salt and pepper, unsalted crackers, instant oatmeal, canned peaches, diced tomatoes, vermicelli noodles, cream of mushroom soup, canned turkey, canned tuna and two bottles of water.
“It raises awareness of emergency management,” Warden Chris White said of the exercise.
The creations were as diverse as the teams putting them together with the Town of Minto team comprised of councillor Mary Lou Colwell, CAO Bill White and Teri White prepared a main course ranch turkey goulash, while the Wellington North team of mayor Ray Tout, whose team took top honours in the competition last year and Wellington OPP Sergeant Pat Horrigan prepared a turkey stew.
Mercer said the entries were quite “original.”
“Some of your food was quite edible,” she said once the winner was chosen.
“They were great meals compared to the Spam we had last year,” Dickson said after the meal.
“It highlights the fact people should be prepared,” Dickson said of the cook-off and of emergency food residents should have on hand should an emergency arise, like a long-term power outage.
